When you eat more calories at a meal than you use right away, your body turns the extra calories into triglycerides, which get stored in your fat cells. When you need energy between meals, your body uses triglycerides as an energy source. However, if your triglyceride levels get too high it increases your risk for heart disease. Eating certain types of food can lower your risk for high triglycerides.
Avocado and Triglycerides
One food that may affect triglycerides is avocados. Rats that consumed avocados had lower levels of triglycerides and higher levels of high-density lipoprotein, or good cholesterol, according to a study published in January 2007 in "Archivos de Cardiologia de Mexico." If further research proves this to be the case with humans as well, consuming avocados may lower your risk for heart disease.
Avocado Nutrition
An avocado contains 320 calories, 10 g of dietary fiber, 4 g of protein and 30 g of fat, including only 5 g of saturated fat. Most of the fat in avocados is the heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. Avocados are also good sources of folate, vitamins A and C, vitamin B-6 and magnesium, and they provide small amounts of iron, thiamine, riboflavin, phosphorus, zinc and calcium.
Lowering Triglycerides
To lower your triglycerides, consume more plant-based foods and more foods that are high in fiber. Limit your intake of foods high in saturated and trans fats, choosing foods containing healthier unsaturated fats and omega-3 fats instead. Also limit your consumption of alcohol and foods containing simple sugars. Choose foods containing whole grains over foods containing refined carbohydrates. Exercise and maintain a healthy weight, which means losing weight if you are overweight.
Considerations
Because high triglycerides are caused at least in part by consuming too many calories, adding avocado to your diet won't help lower triglycerides unless you use it to replace other, less-healthy foods. Likewise, adding avocado to an otherwise unhealthy diet won't make much of a difference to your triglyceride levels. Although avocados are healthy, they are high in calories so consume them in moderation.
References
- Archivos de Cardiologia de Mexico; [High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL) Size and Composition are Modified in the Rat by a Diet Supplemented with "Hass" Avocado (Persea Americana Miller)]; O. Perez Mendez, et al.; January 2007
- Nutrient Facts; Avocados Nutrition Facts
- University of Massachusetts Medical Center: What You Can Do to Lower Your Triglycerides
- MayoClinic.com; Triglycerides: Why Do They Matter?; June 2010
- Cleveland Clinic: How Foods Affect Triglycerides
